Venkat Prabhu: In Maanaadu, STR plays a never seen before character!

In an exclusive chat with Sify.com, director Venkat Prabhu says that STR will be seen playing a never seen before character in his upcoming film Maanaadu.

“Generally, audiences think that Venkat Prabhu will make fun films but I wanted to break the perception. Maanaadu will be something out of my comfort zone. Even while writing the basic structure of the script, I wanted a mass hero to play the protagonist because the character demands a massive fan base. Suddenly, STR called me and things fell in place,” said Venkat Prabhu.

It’s worth mentioning that Venkat Prabhu’s associate Ranjith has strong political ideologies and all his recent films have an underlying political angle.

“The character which STR plays in the film isn't played by any hero in Tamil cinema. When I gave the rough sketch of his character, STR readily agreed. Though the basic outline is ready, I should work on the second half and detailing of the script,” said the Chennai 28 director who always wanted to work with STR and they were in talks for a long time.

Venkat Prabhu says that he is planning to work with professional writers for the film. “Though I’m confident of the filmmaking techniques, planning to collaborate with professional writers for Maanaadu. We are also planning to bring international flavours to the film in terms of filmmaking style and narration,” said Venkat Prabhu and when asked whether Maanaadu would be STR and Venkat Prabhu’s version of House of Cards, the director smiled and said “You should watch the film and tell us. As of now, the film is only in the writing stage.”

Known for working with his usual technical crew and actors, Venkat Prabhu says “I want to try something new with this film, technicians, and actors whom I usually team up with may or may not be changed. First, I have to finish the script work and only then, I would be signing actors and technicians who are required for the film.”

“I will be wrapping all the works related to my ongoing film Party in August. Maanaadu will most likely begin in the last week of September or early October. But I’m confident of releasing Maanaadu for Summer 2019,” said Venkat Prabhu who is planning to release Party by the last week of August.